Wedding workshop Part 1

A few weekends ago, I attended a wedding photography workshop through the BU Center for Digital Imaging Arts (CDIA) and taught by Lara Woolfson of The Studio Nouveau. Lara was beyond generous with her knowledge... the focus of the workshop was on creating a brand but I learned SO much in so many areas. I left feeling totally invigorated and inspired to improve my business.

We did a shoot with Lara's friend Heidi who made a beautiful bride...

More from the workshop to come!

Fiona

I am so relieved to be able to post these! Little Fiona accompanied us on our Finger Lakes trip last weekend. Our friends had just adopted her and we were all so worried when she became very very sick. Well Fiona is a tough cookie - I am happy to report that she has made a speedy recovery and is now very happy and resting at home.

Finger Lakes Trip

Hello again. I have been a such a blogging slacker this month!

Marc and I just got back from a trip to the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. A group of our friends went last year and loved it so we decided to join in this time and we're happy we did. The region is known for its wine and beautiful scenery. I thought we would have some fall foliage to enjoy but everything was still very green.

On the long drive up, we stopped at the Saranac brewery in Utica, NY for a tour and some samples. I am normally more of a wine girl but their Pomegranate Wheat beer was perfect - not too sweet:




We stayed right on Seneca Lake:




We hit the wine trail... hard. Here is our impressive tasting agenda:
Day 1
Fox Hill

Day 2 (Whoa!)
Keuka Spring
Hunt Country
Yang Cellars
Prejean
Torrey Ridge
Miles Cellars
Rock Stream
Pompous Ass
Glenora

Day 3
Silver Springs
Hazlitt
Rasta Ranch
Bagleys
Wagner
Standing Stone





"Make a U-turn, if possible..." On our way to Miles Cellars, we almost had a Michael Scott moment:










Love this!




Unfortunately, most of our group shot attempts were totally botched... I guess thats what you get when the photographer and the subjects are more interested in tasting wine than taking photos! Haha. These, taken at Rasta Ranch, were the best of the bunch:




Here is sunrise on our last day...

Fun on the Cape

I can't believe summer is almost over but at least I had a great Labor Day weekend to finish it off! I went down to Cape Cod for the 3 days and the weather could not have been better...

We spent Saturday at Ridgevale beach in Chatham. Thankfully, we did not see any great white sharks... just plenty of seagulls:




Back at the condo, I had a little photo shoot with my favorite puppy. I take WAY too many pictures of my parents' dog, Bijou (he is actually 10 years old but still a puppy at heart). Thus far, I've tried not to post them on the blog but this one was just too cute! Bijou probably couldn't fetch if his life depended on it and is usually quite indifferent to his tennis ball but I love how he is acting all possessive here.


I headed to Yarmouth on Sunday to visit with some more family. My Aunt Sheila is a true Codder (hah!) and loves to go clamming. We ate some of her freshly gathered steamers for lunch:




My cousin, Lisa, modeled for me while I tried to capture some serious sunflare. Yes, I am aware of the blue pentagon covering her face... my Photoshop skills aren't quite developed enough to edit that out but I will keep trying!


My dad and I kayaked around the Big and Little Cliff Ponds in Nickerson State Park on Monday:


We semi-stalked this heron and got some great pictures. That is the awesome thing about approaching wildlife in a kayak - you can be so quiet! You can see the fish in his mouth in this one:


"GULP!" If you'd like to know why his eye looks cloudy in the above picture but not in this one, check this out.

Weekend recap

So at last weekend's barbecue I had taken a few pictures of the newest addition to our crew... baby Jake!




I was very excited when Jake's mom asked me to come over and do a full-on photo shoot. We had initially scheduled the session for Saturday but the weather forecast was calling for rain all day. We rescheduled for Friday and I was on my way down to Norfolk after work when it started raining. Sad! We got a few nice shots indoors but I am looking forward to shooting outside another day.

We woke this poor little guy up from his nap:






I had a little fun editing this one (PW's vintage action):


---
On Sunday my sister and I went to see the Flaming Lips at the Bank of America pavilion and it was AWESOME. They put on quite a show. I'd never been to the pavilion before but it is a fantastic summer venue. Unfortunately, I was too chicken to bring my nice camera. In retrospect, I totally could have (and should have)! Oh well... please forgive the quality of these as they were taken with my point & shoot:


Umm yes, this is Wayne Coyne walking over the audience in a plastic bubble:


Lots of balloons:

Summertime... and the livin is easy

It was HOT around here this weekend! Marc and I spend our days cooling off by the pools of family and friends who were nice enough to invite us over. We headed down to Franklin for a pool party with some college friends on Saturday.

Sangria is always a hit with this crowd. This peach, apricot and mango version was sublime and the beverage jars were so cute!


My friend Sapana was a fabulous hostess as usual:


We enjoyed hamburgers, hotdogs and this delicious rosemary grilled cheese:


And of course, icy cold beer:


We relaxed:


And played lots of pool pong. Because I am a nerd, I made this animated GIF showing the intense action, haha: